Quick Start Guide to Setting up Google Reader


Google Reader is an RSS feed reader or aggregator. RSS stands for real simple syndication. It is a way to subscribe to blogs and gather all of your subscriptions in one place. (Don’t be nervous about subscribing, even if you’re not sure it’s something you’ll be interested in for long. Subscribing is free, and it’s very easy to unsubscribe.)

1. To set up Google Reader, you must first have a Google account. (If you don’t already have one, go to www.google.com/ accounts/NewAccountand sign up.)
2. Sign in to your Google Account, and go to www.google.com/reader.
3. Then find some blogs you want to subscribe to. There are several ways to do this. Let’s try a couple. First, just type or paste the blog’s URL into Google Reader.
a) On your Google Reader page, click “Add subscription” on the right side. In the box that appears, type www.k12handhelds.com/blog, and click Add. You just subscribed to Karen’s blog, Mobile Musings.

ScreenHunter_01_Jul._21_13.27.gif


b) Another option is to subscribe right from the page. This one works best if you use the Firefox browser. (If you use IE, you can add the Google Toolbar to accomplish this as well.) In Firefox, a new tab in your browser and type in www.budtheteacher.com. On the right side of the page, under SUBSCRIBE, you’ll see the RSS symbol . (This also appears at the top of your browser toolbar, depending which browser you’re using.) Click it. Then subscribe to the feed using Google. If you check the box next to “Always use Google to subscribe to feeds,” this will be your default.
Some blogs also have a box that says “Subscribe using Google.”

ScreenHunter_02_Jul._21_13.30.gif

4. To find more blogs to subscribe to, go to Technorati, do a Google search, or look at the blogrolls of other blogs you like. (These are links to blogs that the writers like.)
5. Once you’ve subscribed to several blogs, you may want to organize your feeds into categories. To do this, click Add to a folder and New folder. Give your folder a name.
You can also click “Manage subscriptions” on the left side to categorize, rename, or delete a feed.


ScreenHunter_03_Jul._21_13.31.gif

6. BONUS: After you have your Google Reader set up, add it to your iGoogle page as a widget. Then you can scan all your feeds quickly without ever leaving your home page.